My food has a face

I get asked alot about my change to becomming vegetarian and I always first correct them by saying I am really mostly vegetarian. I would say I am 99% vegetarian because when at someone else's house or at a church function I generally partake in whatever is available because well, most people center their meals around a meat of some kind. I don't feel it neccessary to be rude or picky because I wouldn't want someone turning their nose up at my house. I may not always be this gracious so watch out. =) I call myself an "aspiring" vegan because we eat vegan probably 70% of the time and I would whole heartedly LOVE to cut dairy out of my life completely but on certain occasions I feel a dish just really needs some kind of dairy product or we have pizza. Furthermore, my kids ADORE cheese. I so rarely indulge them that when they do get it, they are as excited as they would be had I just given them a peice of candy. Plus, I love icecream and cannot currently afford to switch to non-dairy alternatives like tofutti (which by the way sounds weird but is fabulous). Besides that, learning to eat well is a process, not an overnight occurence. I am lightyears from where I was a few years ago and slowly as I become better at cooking I find better, tastier ways to replace dairy products in our diet.

So I want to reiterate that eating well really is a process. The most common retort from someone who finds out I am almost exclusively vegetarian is "I could be vegetarian if only I could give up (whatever meat they like most)" or "I could never be vegetarian because I need my (whatever meat they like most)." It is rather funny to me actually because I hear these comments all the time but yet they say it like it is a rare occurence and they are the exception to the rule. Anyway, I used to love my meat too. I loved steak, I loved chicken. One of Brad's favorite dishes of mine was a baked lime chicken. I loved sausage, pork chops, and oh probably my very favorite, bacon! That is past-tense because I really don't like that stuff anymore. And that's no lie. Ok so maybe with the exception of bacon which I still like but don't eat. =) I also like shrimp and fish because I love sushi. The more I have avoided eating meat, the more the idea of eating meat bothers me. It actually has physically made me queasy at times. Especially when I have had to prepare it. The smell and look of a featherless dead chicken on my counter really turns my stomach now. It is easy for me to imagine that chicken running around. When I was a kid there were a few times my sister and I would have to help de-feather the chickens my Dad had just slaughtered to prepare them for freezing. So it's not a big jump for me from live chicken to chicken leg on my plate.                                            

Now I really get a disturbed feeling when messing with raw meat. I am usually fine if the meat has already been cooked and prepared (by someone else). It seems less like it used to be an animal that way. Even now though, cooked meat has started to seem very unappealing to me. This is exactly how my change of diet has come about. Slowly, things that I was ok with eating seem less ok and actually begin to sound unappetizing. I really don't think it's neccessary to do these things overnight but a little here, and a little there, and you can begin to cut out some of the crap we eat that really shouldn't be considered food at all. 

Aaaaanyway...so along with wanting to eat healthier I have also grown a moral respect for all of animal life and my ultimate goal would be to never harm another animal if I can help it. I could so go off on this in a more theological or spiritual manner but I will spare you....for now. I guess my message for today is to remember that your food has or at least had a face and don't forget to let that bother you sometimes. It may instill in you a desire to kill less animals (inadvertantly) and feed your body more of the stuff it really needs: fruits, veggies, grains, and legumes. Your body craves that stuff, I just know it!